Articles In Virtualization

I remember when Windows NT 4.0 Terminal Server edition was released, and the integrated capability of having more than one user access a server at a time was born. Sure, Citrix had created this already with WinFrame on Windows NT 3.51, but Windows NT 4.0 Terminal Server edition brought the functionality to the native operating system. We take this for granted now, with every administrator of a Windows server environment heavily relying on RDP for their day-to-day jobs. But it was an exciting time.
But the... read more.

To follow up on my previous blog about the Cloud First world we live in, I thought it would be helpful to highlight an area where the cloud offers a great AND low cost solution for Citrix disaster recovery. The costs of having workloads in the cloud are typically the largest obstacle for our customers to start the journey to the cloud. Citrix teamed up with Microsoft to deliver an option that reduces cost for production workloads and almost eliminates cost for disaster recovery.
How does it work?
The cost... read more.

Overview
Citrix acquired Unidesk in early 2017, and quickly integrated the App Layering technology into the stack. This included the ability to separate and individually manage layers for the OS, Platform Tools, and Applications. Applications can be baked in to the final image (template) or mounted elastically on demand based on user provisioning.
Here is an overview diagram from Citrix:
The ability to support User Layers has been in the “Labs” (previews of potential functionality for futur... read more.

Citrix Cloud is a cloud-based platform, residing in Microsoft Azure, used to deploy and manage Citrix products, desktops, and applications. It manages public, private, and hybrid cloud-based Citrix environments, as well as on-premises implementations.
Here are just a few of the numerous reasons to consider moving to a cloud-based management solution for your Citrix environment.
Stay up-to-date on the latest version of Citrix XenDesktop/XenApp seamlessly. Upgrades can be costly, time consuming, and disru... read more.

As our customers renewed their Citrix licensing this past year, some have seen SD-WAN in their list of available licenses. A question I often get asked is what is this SD-WAN license and how did I use it?
There are two components to Citrix NetScaler SD-WAN: WAN Optimization and Virtual WAN.
WAN Optimization has been a part of the Citrix product portfolio for years, since the acquisition of Orbital Data in 2006. It is basically a network optimization device that provides QoS functionality. The tec... read more.

Recently back from AWS:ReInvent, I’m still processing all the data. AWS is Amazon’s Web Services. Amazon is currently hosting 3 times more cloud services than their closest competitor (Azure), making them the 800 pound gorilla of cloud computing. AWS:ReInvent is the trade event they recently held in Las Vegas. Writing a blog helps me process, so here’s my blog about the show. Thanks for helping me process.
First of all, ReInvent is huge. Content was being delivered in three different hote... read more.

Machine Learning is a broad concept covering algorithms that can receive input data and use statistical analysis to predict an output value within an acceptable range. It analyzes past data to predict future data and to provide context for the current values. In a sense, the machine has learned how this metric “behaves” and can put parameters around the current value (standard deviation, probability bands, etc.), adding knowledge that isn’t obvious if all you have is the single, current me... read more.

The tech news has been abuzz recently with stories about how machine learning is making impressive strides in areas like autonomous vehicles, face recognition, and language translation. You can now be automatically tagged in Facebook photos of events you don’t even remember attending. But, while these are impressive achievements that may enhance some of your personal experiences, they have little bearing on your business. You might be surprised to find out these are just some of the more exciting appl... read more.

Commercial software developers work hard to create a product that offers significant value to their customers. They know that the value they deliver in terms of hard savings, increased efficiencies, or lower risk will ultimately drive the price of their software.
Optimally, a licensing scheme should effectively capture some portion of the customer value as an equitable payment for that value delivered. I think that is only fair. If we follow this to its natural conclusion, we might conclude that the best l... read more.

2016 was a tough year for celebrities and not an altogether great year for IT. I’m going to break from my normal annual predictions format and cover two things as we start 2017. I’m going to talk about lessons we need to learn from 2016 and things we should look forward to in 2017.
2016’s Tough Love
Weak IT = Weak Cyber. For a number of years, IT budgets have been shrinking on the whole while cyber budgets increase. This is not working. Cyber is too dependent on solid IT operations to be... read more.